A Real Life Game.

  While playing the game of Oregon Trail, there are many matters where one can learn from. The game taught one first hand how choices while taking the trail effected everyone. How the families who traveled had a hard time. A teacher could go on and on about how bad or cruel it was for those families, but by engaging in the game, a student would obtain a better understanding. Sad truth, that some families never even made it to the West. Problems occurred such as sickness, starvation, restlessness, etc. Gaming is an activity many teenagers, even young adults enjoy participating in. So learning through gaming is possible if the said game is entertaining. As making their own decisions within the game to help grasp the feel of the lesson. Most students would learn better from it, as for others might not be effected by the different lesson. From my opinion lessons within gaming intrigues many and benefits students in more ways than one.

Were The Free Slaves Truely Free ?

   Back when the Union had successfully won against the Southern Confederacy in the Civil War, Lincoln had set the slaves free. This was a double edged dagger for the newly freed slaves. For one, they were free and granted American freedoms, but not having a penny to thier names and no where to go, they turned to the system of sharecropping. During the Reconstruction time period white land owners set up a system where many huts were scattered across his land and all black slaves rented part land, tools and such. To repay the landowner the once forced to work slaves had to relinquish half of thier grown crops to the landowner, and to add insult to injury, had to work by the landowner's command. Also not having the ability to leave one's home if there was work to be done. So were the free slaves REALLY free ? Seems to me that they were still slaves, just without the abusing which I'm sure some still recieved from an unhappy caretaker. Why even bother freeing the slaves if they were still stuck to the plantaion fields ? At least though, it was a step for Americans to accept African-Americans into America. Indeed these former slaves had a harsh time building up thier work but they did what was neccesary for thier families. So they took the work and the harassment a little more just with knowing that they were now freed, even though it was a covered freedom.

Goodmorning Forgiveness.

  As the Civil War ended President Lincoln had a thought to grant amnesty to the Southern Confederacy. I believe that such an act should not have been granted. Lincoln was generous, but sometimes he needs to know when enough was enough. Looking from his point of view, he wanted to keep the whole country together, so pardoning the Southerns he thought would have brought Americans together, but the Northern Union did not share Lincoln's optimistic view. They pictured it as, they had fought for the Northern Union's peace and all those sacrifices and miseries just so the Confederacy would get a slap on the wrist and be okay. Lincoln, in my opinion should have sentenced the leaders of the rebellion to an imense punishment of some sort, not just a general pardon. Presidents should be setting an example of why citizens should obey the law, because if the Confederates just got a slap on the wrist for a whole Civil War, others would think they could get away with minor crimes. Punishment was definitely in order for that crime of seccesion.

Union Vs. Slavery !

  Lincoln's main concern was truley to keep the Union together, because he wanted America to stay together ! Even though he also focused on abolishing slavery, he believed that the Union was far more important. If the Union was to fall apart, so would the whole concept of their Democratic society. Lincoln could have just put all his efforts into ending slavery, but without the Union or American society what good would it be ? As many presidents would see, that keeping the country together is one of the most important goals, if not the NUMBER ONE goal. So for those of you who think Lincoln should've focused on halting slavery, think; not having slaves yes, but also no America either... Think about it.

Stop Being So Stereotypical !

      Why are people believe in outrageous stereotypes ? I mean really, why are they so spread out ? Yes there are some sets of people who fit the stereotypes, and thats fine. But it's still not right to judge EVERY single person of that group, race, age, gender, just because a few fit that. It may be funny to see some random person who fits a stereotype, I admitt I would laugh too. An example, how students at one school may refer to some Puerto Ricans as "Mira Miras" because they are always saying that to get someone's attention. It may be amusing but it doesn't describe every Puerto Rican. Or even how America views Muslim, Islamic believers. The media has led to let Americans believe that all Muslims are terrorist when they're not. It's just ignorance that fuels these kind of obserities ! I believe that the stereotypes of all kinds have spread because we want to see things that suit us, or that we find amusing. It's wrong when it is taken too far and then ostracize one person because of a stupid stereotype. I say get to know a person before you judge them, and don't believe everything from media or people about stereotypes. How about you get up and find out for yourselves what some people are like, you might make a good friend, or even find that someone you've been looking for.

Is It Just Dust In The Wind ?

      People question, "Does history matter ?" The answer is varied. Some may think that it happened and let it go. Others choose to reconcile on those past events that made a difference. History DOES matter though. As many say "History repeats itself" wouldn't it be nice to know what has happened so we can try and prevent the wrong that has happened from happening again ?! As for just throwing history away like a scrap of food or something, it's more like throwing away a part of your own life. Do you know where you come from, do you know where your parents come from, whats the story behind your culture ? Ask those questions to any random person, most wouldn't be able to even answer those simple questions. As it seems most people treat history like it's nothing, like it's an inconvenience or like a tumble weed in an old western.. or even.. dust in the wind.

Should You Leave The Past Behind ?

   Many countries tend to leave out the embarrassing parts of their history. Question is, is it the right thing to do ? I think not. Every piece of history needs to be learned whether good or bad. How else will they learn from their mistakes ? Or how will they know where they have come from. Yes some events may be so terrible to recall, but is it not necessary to acknowledge "Yes this has happened, but we have grown and moved from that". Some officials may just see the negative about those things, but they should consider that, Hiding things from their citizens will cause mayhem as whenever they do learn, they will think the government has been lying and hiding items of interest from them and rebel. Therefore think about it, countries NEED to include every detail of their history in their learning facilities whether good or bad, even "the great nation" of The United States